Tag: Scott Benton

The statement made by Scott Benton, the Independent MP for South Blackpool, on 25 March 2024.

It’s been the honour of a lifetime to represent our wonderful community in Parliament over the last four years.

It’s with a heavy heart that I have written to the Chancellor this morning to tender my resignation as your MP. I’d like to thank the hundreds of residents who have sent supportive messages, cards and letters over the last few months and who have urged me to continue and fight the next election. The support that so many local people have given to me has made it all worthwhile.

A Labour government would be catastrophic for our country. I’m mindful of giving a new candidate the time and space to campaign to prevent that from happening and it is for this reason that I have made this decision at this time.

As your MP I have always sought to do what I believed to be in the best interests of Blackpool, and of our country. Over the last four years we’ve faced significant challenges with Covid and the cost of living. Despite the economic challenges these have created, our community has benefited through over £400 million in additional government funding and capital investment – the highest amount of any town in the entire country. Most of these projects (including planned regeneration in Revoe, Central Drive & Bond Street; the new multiversity; Blackpool Central Development; and many other Levelling Up projects) have yet to commence but we will reap the rewards of these in terms of regeneration, new jobs and opportunities in the years ahead. Our A&E, schools and Police have also benefited from significant extra funding too and I’m proud of the role that I’ve been able to play in delivering that. Blackpool is a special place and it’s future is bright.

The most enjoyable part of the job has been being able to meet so many of you, either on the doorstep, or at the over 650 different charities, voluntary groups, sports clubs, churches and businesses I have visited. I will always cherish being able to contribute towards, and to see, the brilliant work which goes on, often by unsung heroes, in our community. I’ve held over 220 surgeries and events and my team and I have assisted over 19,500 local people with different issues and problems, having much success, but sadly some failures, along the way too. Being able to help those who have needed it most has been a privilege and my team and I will continue to work on all existing casework for those who have previously contacted me in this interim period.

The global events of the past four years would have been extremely challenging for any government to deal with. The optimism and hope felt by many after we delivered Brexit in early 2020 was quickly overtaken by the pandemic and the challenges Covid has led to in terms of the economy and public services have proven incredibly difficult since. The government hasn’t got everything right and I’ve always been robust in speaking out for what I think our community and country needs in Parliament, having spoken on more than 350 occasions – one of the highest of all MPs since 2019. It’s easy for opposition politicians to criticise from the sidelines when they haven’t got any policies or a plan of their own. It’s a lot harder delivering for people when there are no easy solutions to many of the complex problems we face.

In 2019, I pledged to be an active, hardworking and relatable MP who would listen to your concerns and views and act upon them: I’d like to think that I have more than succeeded in that aim. It’s in the best interests of our community that my successor succeeds and I wish them well.

With best wishes

Scott

The speech made by Scott Benton, the Conservative MP for Blackpool South, in the House of Commons on 24 March 2023.

I thank my hon. Friend and very sound colleague the Member for Peterborough (Paul Bristow) for promoting the Bill and Lord Hayward for his sterling work in the other place and his work on electoral reform issues over many, many years.

It is absolutely fundamental for democracy that elections are free and fair. Fraudulent voter intimidation or any other form of undue influence on our democracy is simply unacceptable. It is more important than ever that we foster trust in our political system and that the electoral process is above suspicion. Secret voting has been in place since the Ballot Act 1872. Our society rightly believes that it is up to individuals to decide how they will vote; it is not a decision for their family, for local leaders or for any other group to make.

Unfortunately, over recent years we have seen several high-profile cases of unscrupulous behaviour corrupting election results. This has damaged public confidence in the system. Although Tower Hamlets provides the clearest example in recent memory, the problem is by no means limited to any one part of the country. It has been going on for many years.

Having been a local resident in Calderdale at the time, I recall the shocking findings in Halifax during the 2010 general election, when Calderdale Council admitted that 763 postal votes from the Halifax constituency failed to match voter registration records. That prompted the local Conservative party to submit a lengthy dossier to West Yorkshire police, which highlighted a number of mis-practices that were then investigated. They included—but were by no means limited to—voter impersonation, bullying, multiple postal votes dispatched to empty properties, bogus voters and false registration. Much like in Tower Hamlets, I am afraid the police were far too slow to investigate the issues. Frankly, they were reluctant to get involved with what was incorrectly seen as a party political matter.

Lord Pickles rightly identified the practice of family voting as a specific concern in his 2016 review into electoral fraud, in which he recommended the strengthening of guidance and training. As recently as last year, as my hon. Friend pointed out, Democracy Volunteers, an impartial group that observes and reports on UK elections, suggested that family voting continues to be an issue and was witnessed in more than a quarter of the polling stations it visited.

I am particularly concerned that family voting and voter intimidation disproportionately affect women in Asian communities. A 2015 Manchester University paper for the Electoral Commission found evidence among interviewees in Pakistani and Bangladeshi-origin communities that hierarchical family structures often mean that women are expected to follow the lead of the head of the household. This creates additional family voting vulnerability, especially among ethnic minority households. That was also the conclusion of the Democracy Volunteers report on the Tower Hamlets election, which found:

“Those subjected to family voting…were invariably women…from the Asian community and those causing family voting were generally men”.

That absolutely runs contrary to British values. I am concerned that this is just one example of an issue to which cultural sensitivities and misplaced political correctness have frankly caused a blind eye to be turned for far too long.

By introducing a specific new offence, the Bill will clearly demonstrate our commitment to secret voting and will reaffirm an individual’s right to freely choose who they vote for. It will give our brilliant presiding officers more confidence to challenge any suspicious behaviour and, if necessary, involve the police. I believe this is where the Bill will have the most impact, by making it clear that individuals who accompany a voter to a polling booth, or who position themselves nearby with the intention of influencing a voter, will be breaking the law. By making this clear, and by giving presiding officers confidence, we will have the best chance of preventing family voting and ending undue influence at our polling stations. If these practices are not challenged at the polling station, they will simply continue. In passing this Bill, I hope the Electoral Commission will update its guidance to make clear to all concerned the importance of ending these practices once and for all.